Also, in all geekish seriousness, I should advise that Kal's disguise of Clark Kent is based not so much on blatant physical appearance, as it is on a projection of false character. Clark is portrayed as a bumbling doofus precisely so you never entertain the idea that The Man Of Steel and the somewhat timid City Beat reporter at the Daily Planet are one and the same.

Batsy pulls the same stunt with his Bruce Wayne shtick.

But, come on now. That build, those shoulders, that jawline; and the fact that Clark is never around when Supes is, and somehow always reappears right after the Big Red Boots flies away? Lois pondered this evidence at the tail end of the first Superman movie, but dismissed it only because she couldn't accept that the two totally opposite personalities presented, were in-fact the sole and very-same man.

You've summarized the basic argument that most people make when it comes to the concept of Clark Kent, and that argument is a completely logical one. The thing is, when you say that anyone could pick Clark out of a crowd and point out that he's Superman, you're not thinking realistically about the way humans observe what (or who) is around them. Think about it: if Brad Pitt sat next to you on the subway, would you really think to yourself "hey, that's Brad Pitt!"? Probably not. Chances are, you'd think "Hey, that guy vaguely resembles Brad Pitt...except he looks a lot older and shorter than Brad." I've actually witnessed this happen first hand. Now that Louisiana (where I live) has become a cost effective filming location, celebrities randomly pop up around here, and they walk around in relative anonymity. The only reason anyone knows it's them at all is because they publicly move here for six months and confirm their presence to local papers and such. Yes, beautiful, built people with squared jawlines are plastered on the front pages of tabloid magazines can indeed walk among regular people and go unnoticed, because the mystique that the camera adds is suddenly stripped away.

Now, so far I've only addressed celebrities...people who were born on the planet earth, who can't fly or shoot laser beams out of their eyes. People who we naturally assume live in houses and lead normal lives. The public perception of Superman is quite different. He has made it known that he is an alien. He came here in a space ship. He's given no indication to the public that he wears normal clothes or has a job. Do you really think that if Clark Kent (the corn-fed hayseed from Kansas who looks like he probably works out and was on the high school football team) sat down next to a regular person on the subway, that said person would connect him with alien who flies above Metropolis in red and blue pajamas, blasting lasers and throwing tanks? Probably not. They may think "hey, that guy looks a little like Superman!" Then, they would think "That can't be Superman...what would a guy who can fly be doing on a subway? Plus, Superman doesn't need glasses!"

It's funny that you're using the Donner movies to illustrate your point, because it's exactly that representation of Superman that I'm going against in this piece. As someone who was weaned on Post-Crisis Superman and Superman TAS, I can't stand to watch those old movies. Watching Superman act like a total dork, only to shed his costume and put on glasses to act like a bigger dork...it's just not right to me. In fact, the characterization of every character in those movies takes on a level of cartoonishness that borders on mockery. It's funny that the Bruce Timm cartoon was actually less cartoony than the movies, and that's the characterization that I tend to go with when I draw these characters. Clark isn't as stylish as my take, certainly, but he isn't a bumbling goofball either. He acts like a normal guy from a small town, and that's exactly how it should be.

Sorry about the long diatribe. Superman is my favorite superhero, and I get a bit passionate when discussing him.

First off, do not apologize about the length of your response. It was passionate and yet restrained and still quite civil. And for that you get props.

I recognize that we see this character from opposite ends of a somewhat seminal era in Superman's evolution.

No probs.

I'll just comment that Superman has managed to make some terribly powerful enemies over his long career, and that there cannot be too much insulation between his Spandex activism and that other, relatively docile and domestic half of his existence. And so it is, that while a man with super-vision would not need glasses, it also helps that those who are observant and suspicious, would assert that a man who cannot open a bottle of beer also cannot catch bullets and missiles with his bare hands. Or that a man who trips over his words as much as he trips over his own feet, cannot stand in front of the world and deliver exactly the right speech for the occasion, with dignity and poise.

Actually, one point of praise that Richard Donner gave to Chris Reeve's portrayal in Superman the Movie, is how Chris would hunch his shoulders and concave his torso to basically "shrink" his appearance while playing Clark, but then would allow himself to swell back out to his real measurements when in the blue tights. Watch the scene in Lois's apartment after the flying date, when Clark almost confesses his true identity, for the best example of this.

Aw, you got my hopes up! The main thing that bugs me about the new suit is that they replaced all of the yellow with red. If they made the belt and the piping yellow (and took off all of those random lines that don't serve any purpose), the suit would look much better.

Also I don't have too much of a problem with the Superman costume design form the new "Man of Steel" movie; by and large the costume is the same but the shorts have been replaced with Kryptonian adornments.

Yeah, I actually really like that one. The S reminds me of the way they used to draw it in the 50's, which is cool. I'm a huge Zack Snyder fan, so I can't wait to see what he does with the Man of Steel.

Yeah I agree. Granted that the shorts on the outside were a useless design feature on Superman (and Batman) but they've replaced them with an armoured look that doesn't suit Superman (no pun intended)!

In fifteen years his new suit will look dated, remember Superboy's costume in the '90s, the creators had the good sense to make the accessories a leather jacker and sunglasses, so he get rid of them as the times changed, but the costume itself was pretty sound.

It does help that your points about the decisions do make a lot of sense. It is unlikely that anyone would think someone as all powerful as Superman would even want or need a secret identity, especially since most of his villains know him as Kal-El anyway.

Oh man, this is good, the whole reasoning for the costume (and the colors!) to be is great, I wish DC had used something close to this, it's one of the first Superman redesigns (and I've seen a lot) that looks modern but manages to keep the classic look, love the added yellow and the fact that we've seen some of it in old Supergirl costumes.

Yeah, exactly. It's a look that's contemporary, but it's already familiar, and it's already associated with Superman. Actually, I don't know if you've seen any issues of Smallville Season 11, but that Superman suit looks really good as well. Simple is almost always better.

Thanks! To be honest, I really didn't want to deviate from the classic suit that much. If you screw with it too much, it just doesn't look like Superman. I added some cosmetic stuff and some trim, but at the end of the day, it's pretty much the same.

I totally agree with you brother! And I'm glad you found out all these great new characteristics such as making his yellow behind the S shield and around the suit glow. This is a symbol of a higher inner power (Ironman is a good example). I'm also glad you noticed how color should be natural to the eye and attractive without harming it. :J Good good. But try to understand me when I say that although Red and blue should not touch, this instinctively should not completely apply to Superman's cape. Think of his cape as an individual. (: We will always relate to his cape as a solid Red. And adding another color is risky when you are dealing with people who had grown to love Superman's simplicity. My solution was to add a dark blue collar onto the suit itself. I'd be honored if you saw my version of the character. Come check it out. Hope you enjoy.

Actually, I more or less took that cue from Supergirl's suit, which I always thought was like a better version of Superman's. The red-blue thing was more of a statement on the nu52 costume, where almost all of the yellow is removed. If that suit had yellow piping instead of red, I think I might like it a lot more.

Your suit is not bad at all, bud. The only problem I have with it is the S. I'm not against messing with the S, but I don't think I would go to that extent. Still, it's an overall nice retooling of the classic suit.

You're missing it because it actually served a purpose: it split up the huge gulf of blue that's in the middle. I actually thought long and hard about adding some red around his belt, but I felt like that would contradict the point I was trying to make about blue and red being next to each other, so I opted against it.